BY ASHLEY BAKER, FEATURES EDITOR
During the hype of the
Bellarmine basketball season comes one of the spring semester’s biggest events: homecoming. Every year, there are events scattered throughout homecoming week to foster school spirit and to get students excited for the upcoming dance. This year, homecoming week starts Feb. 13 and goes through the homecoming game on Feb. 18.
The Bellarmine Activities Council has sponsored the homecoming dance for years, and it has fostered traditions for students, alumni, and BAC members. This year, the BAC has dubbed their homecoming week “A Knight of Chance,” a theme focused around a casino.
To make all of this a success, BAC President Hayley Davis said members started planning early.
“We really started discussing this year’s homecoming all the way back to last semester,” Davis said. “That’s when the theme started being thrown around, and then Mariah Creason really hit the ground running with it, planning all way back in October and November.”
BAC pushed for a more student-oriented homecoming week, in turn hoping for a larger turn-out.
“We knew we wanted to capture a larger audience this time around and make sure we were catering to everyone on Bellarmine’s campus, not just the students who are typically involved,” Davis states.
BAC staff advisor Brian Hamann said one of his responsibilities is to build school spirit. “I definitely think we have school spirits in certain aspects, but we are really wanting it to really shine forth that week,” Hayman said. “So we are trying to put forth initiatives and activities that can really let everyone know it’s homecoming week and get them excited about it.”
The BAC has been working hard putting the students’ needs first. Davis explained the shift.
“In years past, it was definitely more alumni-focused. It was heavily catered to bring back people who have already graduated. Nothing was really given to the students. While we were still informed about homecoming and that it would be fun, there wasn’t a huge draw for the student population.”
Through their hard work, there will likely be many students who attend homecoming in all grades who have never attended before.
The BAC has information regarding homecoming events posted on its Homecoming 2017 Facebook page, @BellarmineHomecoming. These events include Late Knight Madness, Late Knight Bingo, Touch the Knight, Tailgate, and then the Homecoming dance, which is being held at the Olmsted, a beautiful venue in southeast Louisville.
On Saturday, Feb. 18, students will gather to cheer on the basketball team. Every year during the game, the Knight of Honor is decided by student votes. This is a yearly tradition. Davis explains the importance of tradition for the BAC.
“We always base off of tradition, that’s a part of what we do on BAC, is to make sure that everything is tradition. Then, we revamp it for each year,” Davis said. “We are trying to see what really gets students excited,” Hayman said.